Christian fundamentalism

==Changing interpretations==
[[File:Christian Demonstrator Preaching at Bele Chere 2007.jpg|thumb|right|A Christian demonstrator preaching at [[Bele Chere]]]]
The interpretations given the fundamentalist movement have changed over time, with most older interpretations being based on the concepts of social displacement or cultural lag.<ref name="DOCA 1990">Reid, D. G., Linder, R. D., Shelley, B. L., & Stout, H. S. (1990). In Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Entry on ''Fundamentalism''</ref> Some in the 1930s, including [[H. Richard Niebuhr]], understood the conflict between fundamentalism and modernism to be part of a broader social conflict between the cities and the country.<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> In this view the fundamentalists were country and small-town dwellers who were reacting against the progressivism of city dwellers.<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> Fundamentalism was seen as a form of anti-intellectualism during the 1950s; in the early 1960s American intellectual and historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] interpreted it in terms of status anxiety, social displacement, and 'Manichean mentality'.<ref name="DOCA 1990" /><ref>Marsden. (1980), 211.</ref>

Beginning in the late 1960s, the movement began to be seen as "a bona fide religious, theological and even intellectual movement in its own right".<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> Instead of interpreting fundamentalism as a simple anti-intellectualism, Paul Carter argued that "fundamentalists were simply intellectual in a way different than their opponents".<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> Moving into the 1970s, Earnest R. Sandeen saw fundamentalism as arising from the confluence of Princeton theology and [[millennialism]].<ref name="DOCA 1990" />

[[George Marsden]] defined fundamentalism as "militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism" in his 1980 work ''Fundamentalism and American Culture''.<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> ''Militant'' in this sense does not mean 'violent', it means 'aggressively active in a cause'.<ref>"Militant" in '' Merriam Webster Third Unabridged Dictionary'' (1961) which cites "militant suffragist" and "militant trade unionism" as example.</ref> Marsden saw fundamentalism arising from a number of preexisting evangelical movements that responded to various perceived threats by joining forces.<ref name="DOCA 1990" /> He argued that Christian [[fundamentalists]] were American evangelical Christians who in the 20th century opposed "both modernism in theology and the cultural changes that modernism endorsed. Militant opposition to modernism was what most clearly set off fundamentalism."<ref>Marsden (1980), ''Fundamentalism and American Culture'' p. 4</ref> Others viewing militancy as a core characteristic of the fundamentalist movement include Philip Melling, Ung Kyu Pak and Ronald Witherup.<ref>Philip H. Melling, Fundamentalism in America: millennialism, identity and militant religion (1999). As another scholar points out, "One of the major distinctives of fundamentalism is militancy."</ref><ref>Ung Kyu Pak, ''Millennialism in the Korean Protestant Church'' (2005) p. 211.</ref><ref>Ronald D. Witherup, a Catholic scholar, says: "Essentially, fundamentalists see themselves as defending authentic Christian religion... The militant aspect helps to explain the desire of fundamentalists to become active in political change." Ronald D. Witherup, ''Biblical Fundamentalism: What Every Catholic Should Know'' (2001) p 2</ref> [[Donald McKim]] and David Wright (1992) argue that "in the 1920s, militant conservatives (fundamentalists) united to mount a conservative counter-offensive. Fundamentalists sought to rescue their denominations from the growth of modernism at home."<ref>[[Donald K. McKim]] and David F. Wright, ''Encyclopedia of the Reformed faith'' (1992) p. 148</ref>

According to Marsden, recent scholars differentiate "fundamentalists" from "evangelicals" by arguing the former were more militant and less willing to collaborate with groups considered "modernist" in theology. In the 1940s the more moderate faction of fundamentalists maintained the same theology but began calling themselves "evangelicals" to stress their less militant position.<ref>{{cite book|author=George M. Marsden|title=Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uufvZyG-hjEC&pg=PR11|year=1995|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|page=xi|isbn=978-0-8028-0870-7}}</ref> [[Roger Olson]] (2007) identifies a more moderate faction of fundamentalists, which he calls "postfundamentalist", and says "most postfundamentalist evangelicals do not wish to be called fundamentalists, even though their basic theological orientation is not very different". According to Olson, a key event was the formation of the [[National Association of Evangelicals]] (NAE) in 1942.<ref>Roger E. Olson, ''Pocket History of Evangelical Theology'' (2007) p. 12</ref> Barry Hankins (2008) has a similar view, saying "beginning in the 1940s....militant and separatist evangelicals came to be called fundamentalists, while culturally engaged and non-militant evangelicals were supposed to be called evangelicals."<ref>Barry Hankins, ''Francis Schaeffer and the shaping of Evangelical America'' (2008) p 233</ref>

Timothy Weber views fundamentalism as "a rather distinctive modern reaction to religious, social and intellectual changes of the late 1800s and early 1900s, a reaction that eventually took on a life of its own and changed significantly over time".<ref name="DOCA 1990" />